Analysis of Sonnet LVIII. The Glow-Worm
Charlotte Smith 1749 (London) – 1806 (Tilford, Surrey)
WHEN on some balmy-breathing night of Spring
The happy child, to whom the world is new,
Pursues the evening moth, of mealy wing,
Or from the heath-bell beats the sparkling dew;
He sees before his inexperienced eyes
The brilliant Glow-worm, like a meteor, shine
On the turf-bank;--amazed, and pleased, he cries,
'Star of the dewy grass!--I make thee mine!'--
Then, ere he sleep, collects 'the moisten'd' flower,
And bids soft leaves his glittering prize enfold,
And dreams that Fairy-lamps illume his bower:
Yet with the morning shudders to behold
His lucid treasure, rayless as the dust!
--So turn the world's bright joys to cold and blank disgust.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Shakespearean sonnet |
Metre | 1111010111 0101110111 0101011101 1101110101 11011001001 01011101001 1011010111 1101011111 11110101010 01111100101 0111011110 1101010101 110101101 110111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 643 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 502 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 107 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 13, 2023
- 34 sec read
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"Sonnet LVIII. The Glow-Worm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5599/sonnet-lviii.-the-glow-worm>.
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